Withered Green Contends at Festival del Film Locarno

The First Egyptian Film within the Concorso Cineasti del Presente Section

Withered Green Contends at Festival del Film Locarno

Festival del Film Locarno (Locarno International Film Festival) has selected Director Mohammed Hammad's film Withered Green to compete within the Concorso Cineasti del Presente section at the 69th edition of the festival from 3 to 13 August.

At a press conference organized by the film festival, Withered Green marks the first Egyptian participation at the Concorso Cineasti del Presente section, as well as landing its world premiere.

Withered Green tells the story of the conservative religious young woman, Iman, who adheres to traditions and customs. Suddenly, she finds herself in the middle of a situation that reveals a matter that pushes her to disregard all those traditions and customs.

Written and directed by Mohammed Hammad, Withered Green is produced by also Hammad, Kholoud Saad and Mohammed El Sharqawy in collaboration with producer Mohamed Hefzy (Film Clinic). MAD Solutions alongside Film Clinic-Indie Film Distribution (FCIFD) are handling the film distribution worldwide.

Mohammed Hammad is an Egyptian director who wrote, directed and produced a number of short films including; The Fifth Pound (2006), Central (2008) and Pale Red (2010), which received a number of international awards. Withered Green marks Hammad's debut long feature film.

Throughout its 62-year history, the Locarno International Film Festival has occupied a unique position in the landscape of the major film festivals. The first edition of the festival was in the same year of the first edition of Cannes Film Festival in 1946. Every August, 180,000 cinema-goers, 1,100 journalists, and 3,400 professionals converge on the small Swiss-Italian town of Locarno, right in the heart of Europe, which becomes the world capital of auteur cinema for eleven days. The festival is famous for introducing a number of the most brilliant directors from all over the world.

For many years, a number of remarkable Egyptian films took a part at the Locarno International Film Festival such as; Chadi Abdel Salam's film Al Mummia (The Mummy) in 1972, Yousry Nasrallah's Mercedes in 1993, Osama Fawzy's Afarit El Asphalt in 1996, Radwan El Kashef's Arak El Balah (Date Wine) in 1998 and Osama Fawzy's Fallen Angels Paradise and Nasrallah's El Medina in 1999.